Kim Jong-un: May we dare to hope?

Reaction in South Korea, and indeed across the world, to the first summit between the leaders of the United States and North Korea has, as you would expect in this age of social media, been loud and mixed.

But if you cut away opinion, which is set alight by reluctance to credit the players ― North Korea's Kim Jong-un, U.S. President Donald Trump and, here in South Korea, President Moon Jae-in ― and if you discount the impatient expectation of some kind of Versailles-peace-treaty-in-a-day ― there is a common thread to the reaction.

It comes in the form of a question: May we now dare to hope?

May we dare to hope that the Korean War will end, that the two Koreas can live in peace, that our sons will no longer have to waste two years of their lives in the military, that some of that defense budget can go for other things, that North Koreans will be free and that we may drive up to Pyongyang for the weekend to see them?